Maternal mental health stresses during pregnancy, presenting as anxiety and depression, are associated with later offspring psychopathology, independent of postnatal maternal mental health status. Intrauterine signals of maternal stress received by the fetus via the placenta are thought to program the fetal brain during pregnancy and influence subsequent neurodevelopment.

This project aims to identify the key placental pathways involved in maternal-fetal transmission of mental health risk. An integrative bioinformatics approach will be applied to available data (eg. clinical, neurodevelopmental outcomes, placental omics) from ongoing mother-offspring cohorts to determine significant transmission pathways, which can be validated in a separate cohort of samples using a range of laboratory techniques including molecular biology to investigate gene expression changes and in vitro cultures for functional analysis and magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy to analyse placental structure and measure metabolites respectively.

Understanding the precise mechanisms by which the effects of maternal mood are transmitted via the placenta to the fetus will generate novel knowledge critical for designing interventions that can minimise the risk of vertical transmission of mental health vulnerability, and improve long-term neurocognitive and behavioural outcomes of offspring, and ultimately optimising human potential and reducing societal costs of poor mental health.